This book provides new insights into the universality of biological systems in animal reproduction and development by a comparative study of a variety of mechanisms in animals ranging from basal invertebrates to vertebrates, including mammals.

Animals accomplish genetic diversity through meiosis and fertilization, and during embryogenesis animals must produce specialized cell types, including germ cells, in accordance with their individual body plan. This series of phenomena is essential to the continuity of life in the animal kingdom, and animals show various reproductive and developmental strategies.

This volume, comprising four parts, reviews animal kingdom diversity, including reproductive strategies and germ cell differentiation mechanisms (Part 1), sex determination and differentiation (Part2), the mechanisms of fertilization (Part 3), and body axis formation (Part 4). Readers will find descriptions of the reproduction or development of 180 species, 13 phyla, 35 classes, 74 orders, 117 families, and 151 genera in this book. Of particular interest is the diversity of molecules and mechanisms used to achieve the same biological purpose in different animals.

Undergraduates, graduate students, and professional scientists who want a deeper understanding of animal reproductive and developmental mechanisms will find this book to be of great value.

Autorentext
Kazuya Kobayashi
Department of Biology, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University Hirosaki, Japan
Takeshi KitanoDepartment of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto UniversityKumamoto, Japan
Yasuhiro Iwao
Laboratory of Reproductive Developmental Biology, Division of Earth Sciences, Biology, and Chemistry, Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi UniversityYamaguchi, Japan
Mariko Kondo
Misaki Marine Biological Station, Graduate School of Science, The University of TokyoMiura, Japan

Inhalt
Preface Acknowledgments

Part 1 Diversity in Reproductive Strategies and Germ Cell Differentiation Mechanisms

Chapter 1. Germ cell formation in solitary ascidians: coexistence of preformation and epigenesist

Chapter 2. Regulatory mechanisms of the germline stem cell niche in Drosophila melanogaster

Chapter 3. Regulation of germline stem cells in the teleost: gametogenesis, sex and fecundity

Chapter 4. Regulatory mechanism of spermatogenic stem cells in mice: their dynamic and context-dependent behavior

Chapter 5. Nutritional control of the germline development in Caenorhabditis elegans

Chapter 6. Seasonal regulation of reproduction in vertebrates: Special focus on avian strategy

Chapter 7. Roles of germline stem cells and somatic multipotent stem cells in Hydra sexual reproduction

Chapter 8. Reproductive strategies in marine hydrozoan jellyfish: sexual medusae and asexual polyps

Chapter 9. Reproductive strategies in planarians: Insights gained from the bioassay system for sexual induction in asexual Dugesia ryukyuensis worms

Chapter 10. Reproductive strategies in Annelida: germ cell formation and regeneration

Chapter 11. Reproductive strategies in social amoeba

Part 2 Diversity in the Sex Determination and Differentiation

Chapter 12. Environmental control on sex differentiation in Daphnia

Chapter 13. Sex determination cascade in insects: a great treasure house of alternative splicing

Chapter 14. Genetic control on sex determination and differentiation in fish

Chapter 15. Endocrine and environmental control of sex differentiation in gonochoristic fish Chapter 16. Variety of sex change in tropical fish

Chapter 17. Sex determination and differentiation in frogs

Chapter 18. Environmental control on sex determination and differentiation in reptiles

Chapter 19. Sex determination and differentiation in birds

Chapter 20. Sex determination and differentiation in mammals

Part 3 Diversity in the Mechanism of Fertilization

Chapter 21. Modulation of sperm motility and function prior to fertilization

Chapter 22. Postcopulatory reproductive strategies in spermatozoa

Chapter 23. Ascidian sexual reproductive strategies: mechanisms of sperm-egg interaction and self-sterility

Chapte 24. Universality and diversity of a fast, electrical block to polyspermy during animal fertilization

Chapter 25. Preparing for fertilization: Intercellular signals for oocyte maturation

Chapter 26. Regulation of sperm-egg fusion at the plasma membrane

Chapter 27. Fertilization and protein-tyrosine kinase signaling: are they merging or emerging?

Part 4 Diversity in Axis Formation

Chapter 28. Early embryonic axis formation in a simple chordate ascidian Chapter 29. Recent advances in hagfish developmental biology in a historical context: implications for understanding the evolution of the vertebral elements

Chapter 30. Left-right specification in the embryonic and larval development of amphibians

Chapter 31. The molecular basis of the gastrula organizer in amphibians and cnidarians

Chapter 32. Axis formation and its evolution in ray-finned fish

Chapter 33. Post-embryonic axis formation in planarians

Chapter 34. Larval and adult body axes in echinoderms